Cockroach-like robot leads new research effort
... most distinguishing trait - how they move without falling over. The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today (Thursday, Sept. 16) a $5 million, five-year grant to the University of California, Berkeley, that will fund an all-star team of biologists, engineers and mathematicians from universities a...NSF announces six 'FIBR' awards to tackle some of biology's most challenging questions
...at make movement possible and prevent animals from falling over, another project will take a multidisciplinary approach to the study of live, simulated and robotic cockroaches. The sixth FIBR project will undertake a study of photosynthesis to understand how large and complex networks of molecules arise, per...Newly discovered protein may be key to muscular dystrophy
...childhood. Children often experience leg weakness, falling and progressive loss of movement, eventually becoming wheel chair-dependent. Many die in their late teens or early twenties. Currently, there is no cure. Scientists already knew that muscular dystrophy results from genetic defects in components......n. Our blood pressure fluctuates daily, rising and falling at predictable times of day and night. Scientists have provided evidence of the existence of internal clock mechanisms by placing organisms like rodents in chambers isolated from day/night cycles. In spite of this, the animals' rhythms still cycle ......en. "Over the years we've seen current microscopes falling short of what the scientists need. We designed SPIM with EMBL biologists to make sure that it was completely suited to their needs," says EMBL scientist Ernst Stelzer, whose group developed SPIM with the input of developmental biologists in the group...UW study: Migrating birds offer insight into sleep
...ring REM sleep (the dream stage) too quickly after falling asleep," says Ruth Benca, professor of psychiatry at UW Medical School and principal investigator of the study. "Finding this same pattern in the birds offers us an intriguing model for studying mechanisms for seasonal mood disorders, such as bipola...... levels rise worldwide. Native Inuit fishermen are falling through thinning Arctic ice they've traversed many times before. Climate change reportedly claimed some 150,000 lives in 2000 and sickened many others, according to the World Health Organization. What climate conditions await our children and grandch...Is a single bout of exercise helpful or harmful in getting a good night's sleep?
...rcise bout, volunteers reported lying awake before falling asleep longer than under all other conditions....Global warming to squeeze western mountains dry by 2050
...1st century. The result: more winter precipitation falling as rain instead of snow, two-tenths of an inch to more than half an inch a day, pushing the snowline in the mountains up from 3,000 feet to higher than 4,000 feet. Where we now have snow in the mountains into April, "at mid-century snow will melt off...The scoop on poop: Insect feces, dead leaves may provide clues to health of world
...he canopy. "We're predicting that an increase in falling canopy materials, will raise the amount of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the forest floor soil," said Lowman. "That will in turn, boost the rate of leaf litter decomposition, which escalates plant growth rates. This is a vital part of sustaini...Genetic screening recommended to detect new neurodegenerative disorder in men over age 50
...nts were worried about their own fathers, who were falling down, becoming forgetful and experiencing other neurological problems. Hagerman, along with her husband, Paul, a professor of biological chemistry at UC Davis School of Medicine, led the team of researchers from UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Universit...News briefing, webcast and satellite feed
...nts were worried about their own fathers, who were falling down, becoming forgetful and experiencing other neurological problems. A significant but unknown number of adults with these symptoms are being misdiagnosed as normal aging, Parkinson's disease, senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease when their con......g between people are unsure how to proceed without falling foul of patent rights. Doctors have been warning for years that another flu pandemic as deadly as the 1918 one is inevitable, and many worry it could be about to happen. After an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry, Vietnam has repor...AGU journal highlights - 6 January 2004
...s A new analysis of double plumes observed behind falling meteorssuggests a new explanation for the phenomenon. Kelley et al. reporton lidar and camera views of the heretofore-mysterious "trains" castbehind meteors. The authors studied the persistent emissionscommonly left behind by meteors from the 1998 an...By the year 2050, human population could add 2.6 billion people, reports Rockefeller scientist
...the stage for major changes in families: fertility falling to very low levels; increasing longevity; and changing mores of marriage, cohabitation and divorce. In a population with one child per family, no children have siblings, Cohen explains. In the next generation, the children of those children have no c...... that Lewis and Clark observed in North Dakota are falling victim to the virus as it moves west. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center, in Madison, Wisc., confirms that West Nile Virus caused major die-offs of white pelicans this year in several north central states, including Montana, North and South Dak...Extraterrestrial enigma: missing amino acids in meteorites
... predominate. The fact that the meteorite was seen falling and fragments were collected quickly minimized the chances that they were contaminated by Earth amino acids. The Miller-Urey experiment, combined with the discovery of amino acids in carbonaceous chondrites and the detection of glycine in molecular ...How many fish in the sea? Census of Marine Life launches first report
...marine snow V particles, some living and some not, falling through kilometers of water and settling at the bottom of the oceans. The silt is wider than any other habitat on the planet V 5 km deep in places V giving depth of silt the same scale as the ocean above. The abyssal plain contains 100,000 known sp...Moving the target for osteoporosis treatment
...eatments, such as hormone replacement therapy, are falling into disfavor because of potentially serious side effects. Dr. Isales believes still more effective treatments with fewer side effects may be those that target the hormone cross talk now known to occur between bone cells....Measles on the rise as vaccinations fall in the UK, Science study reports
...om recent data for measles, highlight the risks of falling vaccination rates to the wider population." In their Science paper, the authors write, "In their attempt to help a child avoid the perceived risk associated with vaccination, parents' behavior collectively results in a substantial increase in the rea...